The 3-day event held music and dancing contests celebrating the heritage of Catawban culture
Written By Chase Duncan
Photos By Weston Hook
Arts & Culture
Hundreds of people, donned in various styles of Native regalia, danced in the 2026 Catawba Powwow at the Winthrop Coliseum.
Over 257 dancers participated in the Grand Entry on the first day of the event, dancing in a spiraling parade that curled in on itself like a whirlpool in the center of the lower bowl of the arena. The event marks the first time it has been held at the Winthrop Coliseum in over 10 years.
A powwow is a Native American tradition and gathering that brings Indigenous people in their local communities to one place to celebrate their culture through dance, singing, arts, crafts and socialization. Though the event is hosted by and in honor of Native American culture, anyone can observe or, depending on the event, even participate in a powwow as long as they follow the rules of the event and respect the traditions of the hosting tribe.
The Catawba Nation is the only federally recognized Native American tribe in South Carolina. The Catawba Indians have existed on their ancestral lands near the Catawba River for over 6,000 years, according to the Catawba Nation website.
The 2026 Catawba Powwow was a three-day event that hosted music as well as dance contests with prizes ranging from $50 to $8000. The dance competitions had separate categories based on age divide by men and women, teenagers, and boys and girls.
The men’s division was divided by style into traditional, southern straight, chicken, fancy, grass and woodland categories, and the women’s categories were separated into southern traditional, northern traditional, fancy, jingle and woodland categories.
Each dancer dons “regalia,” unique Native American clothing, accessories and adornments that convey spiritual and personal meaning based on the individual dancer. The different divisions represent different styles of dancing based on the form and rhythm, which corresponds to the dancer’s regalia.
Some dancers will adorn themselves in plumes of colorful feathers to signify and simulate a dancing bird (chicken style), while others might wear a simpler arrangement of headbands, moccasins and decorative beads to convey a more traditional style.
A jingle dancer will attach dozens of metal cones and bells to their dress to create a, you guessed it, jingling sound that harmonizes with the beat of their dancing, while a fancy shawl dancer will adorn themself in an elaborately colorful shawl and move in a graceful manner that mimics the dancing of a butterfly.
Being in the Winthrop Coliseum for the various dance contests, particularly the Grand Entry, is an enlightening experience for any American.
Being able to observe or even participate in dancing and music that honors Indigenous culture is something that is at the heart of what the United States of America is meant to be. A country that invites and respects all cultures while allowing its citizens to learn from one another while existing in the shared, massive melting pot of our country.
The Indigenous people of this continent and South America were the original “Americans,” a reductive term that has been largely co-opted by the United States and large swathes of its citizens to exclude the hundreds of millions of people who currently exist on the continent outside of the U.S.
Minority groups and undesirables in the United States have been and are excluded from what certain people in our country colloquially term as “being American.” They detest and fear what exists at the boundaries of their cultural values and limited understanding of the country they live in.
Many people have and will continue to try and mend the widening ideological chasm that has formed between the people and cultures of our country, as well as the people and cultures outside of our country.
I do not have the solution to that problem; it is not something that is supposed to be grasped or fixed by one person. But I do think it starts with getting out of your zone of familiarity and attending events like the Catawba Powwow and observing with respect what matters to other people like the Indigenous tribes of the United States of America.